Getting a first meeting is a lot like riding a bike; We can talk about it until we are blue in the face, yet, the only way we can learn is by hopping on the bike, crashing, learning from our mistakes and then rinse, wash, repeat.

An expert is a person that has extensive knowledge or ability in regard to a respective subject. To achieve expert status you have to spend prolonged time educating and practicing in a specific field. Many say it takes 10 years, or 10,000 hours, to become an expert. So, if you are only spending an hour or so a day working on getting first meetings, it will take a long time to recognize results. Also, you may need to try multiple methods simultaneously to improve your speed on base.

1. You have to be sold on what you are selling
If you are not convinced that you are awesome at what you do, you will never be able to convince anyone to do business with you.

A. We absolutely rock at (notice price is not on the list):

• being responsive and attentive to your customers (this is not trivial).
• being flexible, our agenda is our client’s agenda (Folks like Satmetrix are ideologues, as their business is their ideas. So, their very brand requires them to be inflexible.).
• being experienced in design, implementation, and across a wide array of organizations and challenges.
• being passionate about measurement. I think our best practice guide is a case in point. We take our work personally, because we care about what we do and what our customers think about us.

B. We are trusted advisors, not vendors. Seriously, people should get as much out of our meetings as we do. If they aren't thanking us for carving out time to meet with them, we need to improve our approach.

2. Use low resistance (Inbound) tactics for getting a first meeting to establish rapport and trust.

A. Never eat lunch alone. Try to find the person you want to meet and invite them to lunch under the auspice that you need a huge favor, because you want to understand how people in their industry make decisions in regard to retaining customers.
     Alternatives:
    -Try a virtual lunch for people that are long distance. Buy them a gift card for $15 for their favorite lunch spot and send it to them as a thank you.
    -Find salespeople. Salespeople are awesome at networking and I am sure customer loyalty means a lot to them, and they could refer or point you in the right direction.

B. Call up and ask for permission to conduct an informational interview. It will only take 15-20 minutes, and we'll send them an advanced copy of our findings.

C. Network and make it easy for folks to connect the dots. Ask for referrals and introductions directly to, or near, the person you want to meet with. For example, try to get in with SHRM(society of human resource managers), as you could leverage a group like this.

D. Look for a parallel universe. Yes, a straight line is the shortest path to any point, but that does not exist in sales land. Look to find and meet someone along side, above or below the person you want to meet with that might be able to help us get in the door.


Start trying these things out and let me know how they work. I double dog dare you to pull up some names of people in your area and offer to buy them lunch so you can pick their brain and get their opinion about customer loyalty and retention. You might be surprised at the response.